May 30, 2008

Blueberry Production Is Skyrocketing Worldwide

Is the world ready for 800 million pounds of blueberries?

That’s the number Cort Brazelton estimates the world will produce annually in about five years. Compare that to about 500 million pounds produced in 2007, which is already a hundred million more pounds that just two years ago.

And production will be worldwide, still dominated by North America but nonetheless spreading. Who will sell all these berries? Will U.S. growers have to foot the promotion bill? And who will eat all these berries? Many budding producer countries have no consumption history. Are their consumers experimenting with a new fruit, or are the producers looking to export?

The numbers were presented during the annual meeting of the North American Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) in Vancouver, Canada, in March.

Mark Villata, executive director of USHBC, said the numbers created quite a stir at the Vancouver meeting.

“They opened up a lot of eyes,” he said.

Last year, the council hired Brazelton to gather production information. Cort is the son of Dave Brazelton, and a part-time employee at the family’s Fall Creek Farm and Nursery in Lowell, Ore., a large producer of blueberry nursery stock. Cort operates Brazelton Ag Consulting, which gathered the numbers on blueberry acreage and production from around the world.

Brazelton’s PowerPoint presentation began making the rounds to local blueberry producer meetings, such as the meeting of the United Blueberry Producers of Michigan in Hamilton, Mich., May 2. Beverlee DeJonge, from Eagle Rock Blueberry Farm in Holland, made the presentation there, generating a discussion about the need for more promotion and more research to verify the health claims that already seem to be propelling growth in consumption.

USHBC collects $12 a ton from blueberries produced or imported into the United States to use for research and promotion.

The most startling figure in Brazelton’s presentation shows that last year, Michigan lost its position as single largest producer of plantation blueberries to the South American country of Chile.

Michigan production has been rising slowly, from 17,500 acres in 2003 to 19,300 acres in 2007, but Chile’s production skyrocketed during those years. Acreage grew from 5,209 in 2003 to 22,700 in 2007.

Within the United States, the dominant production region changed from the Midwest to the West. Production in the West grew from 18,000 acres in 2003 to 30,947 in 2007. In 2003, the Midwest was the largest producer, with 19,205 acres, mostly in Michigan. By 2007, the Midwest increased modestly to 21,425, while the West was adding nearly 13,000 acres.

Not only did the West pass the Midwest, so did the South. In 2003, Southern production took place on 15,310 acres, which grew to 22,300 in 2007.

Northeast production, mostly in New Jersey, grew somewhat, moving from 9,510 acres in 2003 to 10,400 in 2007.

The “West,” in Brazelton’s presentation, means western North America, and thus includes Canada’s British Columbia along with Oregon, Washington and California. Acreage in British Columbia soared from 11,000 in 2003 to 17,500 in 2007.

From 1995 to 2007, world blueberry acreage grew by 254 percent, from 57,122 acres to 144,807. With the new plantings, Brazelton projected production in North America would increase from 358 million pounds to 560 million pounds in 2012-13. World production is projected to rise from 494 million pounds currently to more than 800 million pounds in 2012-13.

New countries are showing up on the producer list. Since 2003, the Philippines joined the list with just 10 acres, and so did South Korea with 40, Japan with 1,300 and Angola in southern Africa with 10. In Europe, the Baltic states of Ukraine and Romania joined the list with a few hundred acres each. Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom joined the producer list with anywhere from 25 to 600 acres.

Mexico joined the list with 430 acres, as did Peru, Brazil and Columbia. Uruguay made the biggest splash, having 1,450 acres now from zero in 2005. In Canada, Nova Scotia now has 300 acres, up from none in 2005. Sixty acres were planted in Central America.

Brazelton also investigated whether the blueberries are going for fresh-market consumption or processing. In the Northwest, most berries go for processing. In California, where acreage rose from 1,300 to 3,949 from 2003 to 2007, most berries go to fresh market. For the region overall, production was 162.5 million pounds in 2007, with 103 million pounds going for processing.

Michigan production of 91.2 million pounds in 2007 went two-thirds fresh, one-third processing.

In the Northeast, 43.3 million pounds of the 54.8 million pounds produced went to fresh market. New Jersey is the dominant producer with 7,900 acres, and the only state with berries going into processing: 11.5 million pounds. New York and eastern Canada production, 3.9 million pounds from 2,500 acres, goes fresh.

In the South, seven states account for 22,300 acres. Georgia is the largest, with 9,120 acres, followed by North Carolina with 6,000. Florida is growing fastest, moving from 1,200 acres in 2003 to 3,200. Of the 45.9 million pounds produced in the South, 34.5 million go to fresh market.

Ninety percent of production in South America goes to fresh market, and while Chile’s growth is greatest, Argentina and Uruguay are rising rapidly, too. Argentina’s acreage went from 1,730 in 2003 to 9,400 in 2007, and Uruguay’s acreage went from zero to 1,450.

At least 16 countries in Europe now grow blueberries. Since 1995, acreage has grown from 3,792 to 15,705, or 441 percent. Growth is occurring in the southwest – Spain and Portugal – in the center and north and in Eastern Europe, most notably Poland, which increased acreage from 3,707 in 2003 to 6,700 in 2007.

South Africa doubled acreage in those four years, from 650 to 1,300.

In Asia, acreage went from a mere 124 in China in 2003 to 4,625 in 2007. Three-fourths of China’s 4.14 million pounds are processed.

Australia-New Zealand acreage grew modestly, from 2,258 in 2003 to 2,740 in 2007. Three-fourths of their 8.2 million pounds of production is sold fresh.

Overall, growth in blueberry production varies from modest to explosive, but it’s taking place worldwide. Producers, looking at the numbers, are both scared and proud of the soaring production of their favorite fruit.